Cluster-switch.



' ITo.-:734',8 76. PATENTED JULY 28, 1903" H. 'HUBBELLL CLUSTER sWITcm APPLIOATIOH FILED NOV. 21, 1902.

R0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

9 i er/ WITNESSES.

Patented .rui 2s, 1 cos.

Fries.

, l-lARVEY'EfUBBELL, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

CLUSTER- -SWITCH.

SPECIFICATIONforming part of Letters Patent No. 734,876, dated July 28, 1903.

Application filed November 21, 1902. Serial No. 132,234. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: 1

Be itknown that I, HARVEY HUBBELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bridgeport, county of Fairfield, State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful.

Cluster-Switch,of which the following is a specification.

My invention has for its object to provide thereby lightinglamp's or groups oflamps successively and to open the circuits for the pur-.

pose of extinguishing. the lamps thereon either successively or simultaneously.

With this and other ends in viewI have devised the novel cluster-switch of which the l following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification,

reference charactersbeing used to indicate 1 the several parts. 1

Figure l is a vertical section of a cluster center, showing my novel switch in elevation; Fig. 2, a section of the frame on the line 2 2 in Fig. 1, showing the mechanism of the switch in edge View; Fig. 3, an elevation of the frame and insulating-body detached;

Fig. 4, a double'view'showingthe supporting'rod in section and corresponding face views of the contact-wheel and: the inclines and contact-plates on-the insulating-body. Figs. 5, 6, and 7 are diagrammatic face views of contact-wheels and the corresponding inare diagrammatic Views illustrating other modified forms of my novel switch, the supi porting-rod being in section and the contactplates and current plate on the contactwheel being in elevation in each View.

Certain of the mechanical features of the switch itself donot difier materiallyfrom the switches illustrated and claimed in my former Letters Patent No.565,541, dated August 11,1896, No. 649,308, dated May 8,1900,

and No. (393,799, dated February 18, 1902.

The essential features of my present invention are an insulating-body carrying a plurality of-contact-plates leading to independent circuits or groups of circuits and a rotatable contact-wheel having spring-arms adapted to engage the contact-plates.

1O denotes the frame of the switch to which the shell 11 of acluster center is attached and which is itself attached to a stem 12.

13 is a brace carried by the stem and acting to support the shell, as fully illustrated and described in my pending application, Serial No. 128,851, died October 27, 1902.

14 denotes the caps of incandescent-lamp sockets, which are shown as secured to the shell in the manner set forth and described in my said pending application referred to.

A denotes an insulating body which is shown as rigidly secured to the frame, and B a supporting-rod which is rigidly secured to the body and projects therefrom on the inner side, as clearly shownin Fig. 2. This supporting-rod receives the electricalcurrent, which passes to the contact-wheel and thence to the contact-plates, as I shall proceed to describe.

C denotes an operating-wheel, and D the contact-wheel, both of which are mounted to turn on the supporting-rod. The operatingwheel is preferably made of insulating material, as porcelain or vulcanized fiber. If not made of insulating material, it must of course be perfectly insulated. The operating-wheel is provided on its inner face with a lug or lugs 15, adapted to engage recesses 16 in the contiguous face of the contact-wheel. The number of recesses in the face of the contact-wheel will of course be variedto suit the requirements of special switches. In practice the contact-wheel may be made of metal or of insulating material, as porcelain or vulcanized fiber, as preferred. When made of insulating material, the contact-wheel has rigidly secured thereto a current-plate 17, which receives the current fromthe supporting-rod and which in turn has secured theretooutwardly-projecting spring-arms l8;

19 in Figs. land 6 denotes outwardly-projecting dummy springarn1s carried by the contact-wheel, but not attached to currentplate 17, and consequently not receiving any current. These dummy spring-arms are provided merely for the purpose of balancing the current-wheel and insuring that it work evenly and may or may not be used, as preferred.

Theinsulatiug-body A, which is shown as attached to the frame, is provided on its innor face with a plurality of inclines 20, arranged in the form of a circle or a plurality of concentric circles, which may be made of the material ofthe plate, and are adapted to be engaged by the spring-arms upon the contact-wheel. Part but not all of these inclines are provided with contact-plates 21, which are connected by means of screws 22 with blocks 23 on the outer face of the body. Each block is provided with one or more binding-screws 24 for the attachment of circuit-wires 25, it being of course obvious that each circuit may contain one or a plurality of lamps.

The mechanical operation of my present switch is substantially the same as the mechanical operation illustrated and described in my said former patents referred to.

26 denotesasprin; for the operating-wheel, one end of which is shown as secured to supporting-rod B and the other to the operatingwheel, as at 27. The switch is shown as operated by a chain 28, one end of which is detachably secured to a catch 29 on the operating-wheel, the chain extending upward and partly around the operating-wheel and downward through the bottom of the frame and shell at the center, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. I preferably, as shown in' the drawings, secure the frame and shell together by means of a threaded hub 32, passing through both frame and shell at the center of the bottom and having an external ornamental head, between which and the frame the shell is clamped, and a hole 33, through which the chain passes.

30 denotes an arm extending outward from the periphery of the operating-Wheel and adapted to engage stops 31 on the frame to limit the oscillation of the operating-wheel-in each-direction. Spring 26 acts to return the operating-wheel to its normal posit-ion after each actuation and also to retain the operating-wheel and the contact-wheel in operative position-that is, with the spring-armsin reliable engagement with the inclines and contact-plates on the insulating-body, as clearly shown in Fig. 2.

It will be readily understood that when the chain is pulled the operating-wheel'will be oscillated until its movement is stopped by engagement of arm 30 with one of the stops, and through the engagement of lugs 15 with recesses 16 in the contactwheel the latter will be carried forward with it and the springarms will pass over inclines upon the insulating-body and otf from the inclines upon which they were resting at the commencement of the movement and upon the next succeeding inclines. As soon as the pull upon the chain is relieved spring 26 will return the operating-wheel to'its normal position-that is, un-

til the backward movement is stopped by the engagement of arm 30 with the other stop. Turning now to diagrammatic Fig. 5 in connection with Figs. 1, 2, 8, and 4, I will explain more specifically the form of the invention illustrated in these figures. This form provides for two independent circuits or groups of circuits, as a plurality of circuits may be operated from each contact-plate. Supposing the circuits to be open, the first pull upon the chain will close the first circuit, or rather all circuits operated from the first contact-plate, the second pull closes the second circuit or group of circuits,-the third pull opens the first circuit or group of circuits, leaving the second circuit or group of circuits closed, and the fourth pull opens the second circuit or group of circuits. A fifth pull would start the operation over again by closing the first circuit or group of circuits again. The special construction required to produce the'above results will be obvious from the first five figures of the drawings. It will be noted that the contact-wheel is provided with two spring-arms 18, which in Fig. 4 are shown as balanced by two dummy spring-arms 19that is, spring-arms that are not adapted to be broughtinto the circuit-- and theinsulating-bodyis provided with four inclines 20, two of which are provided with contact-plates 21, which are adapted to be placed in the circuit. Suppose now that the two spring-arms 18 upon contact-wheel D are in engagement with the inclines upon insulating-body A, that are not provided with contactplates 21. It isobvious that both circuits or groups of circuits will be open. A single pull upon the chain will place one of the spring-arms 18, which for convenience I will call the first spring-arm, in engagement with the first contact-plate on the insulating-body, and will thus close the first circuit or group of circuits. upon the chain will place the first spring-arm 18 in engagement with the second contactplate and the second spring-arm 18 in engagement with the first contactplate, thus closing both circuits or groups of circuits. The next pull upon the chain will throw the first spring-arm 18 off from the second contact-plate and will throw the second springarm 18 upon the second contact-plate, thus opening the first circuit or group of circuits, but leaving the second circuit or group of circuits closed. A fourth pull upon the chain throws the second spring-arm off from the second'contact-plate, and thus opens the second circuit or group of circuits. A fifth pull upon the chain would place the first springarm in engagement with the first contactplate, and thus again close the first circuit or group of circuits.

In diagrammatic Fig. 6 I have illustrated a form of the invention in which there are three independent circuits or groups of circuits, and six actuations of the operating- The next pull wheel are required to complete the operation of the switch. The insulating-body is pro- .a form of the invention in which there are 1 three independent circuits or groups of circuits, only two of which, however, can be closed at a time, the complete operation of the switch being effected by three actuations of the operating-wheel. The insulating-body is provided with six inclines, three of which are provided with contact-plates 21, as in Fig. 6, but differently arranged. In the present form a single incline provided with a contactcline, which in turn is followed by'two inclines provided with contact-plates, which in turn are followed by two insulating-inclines. I The current-plate 17 upon contact-wheel D in this form is provided with two spring-arms 18, which are placed diametrically opposite to each other. Starting with the circuits open-- that is, with both spring-arms 18 in engagement with insulating-inclines (2'. Ya, inclines not provided with contact-plates)the first actuation will move one of the spring-arms upon a contact-plate and will close a circuit, the other spring-arm remaining on an insulating -incline. The second actuation will move the spring-arm that was previously on an insulating-incline upon a contact-plate and will move the opposite spring-arm which was previously on a contact-plate upon the contiguous contact-plate, thus leaving the two spring-arms in engagement with diametrically opposite contact-plates and leaving two circuits closed. The third actuation will place thespring-arms upon the contact-wheel in the starting position-that is, in engagement with two diametrically opposite insulating -inclines, leaving the three circuits open. A fourth actuation will close a single circuit as before, a fifth actuation will close two circuits as before, and a sixth actuation, completing the revolution of the contactwheel, will open all the circuits again.

In diagrammatic Figs. 8 and 9 I have illustrated forms of the invention which are simply applications of the form illustrated in the use of a greater number of inclines arranged in the form of concentric circles. In theform illustrated in Fi 8 there are two concentric circles of inclines, each circle having eight inclines, and the current-plate 17 upon contact-wheel D is provided with four spring-arms 18, arranged in diametrically opposite groups of two, so that there will be two spring-arms, one in each group, constantly in engagement with each circle of inclines.

The operation,which I will describe more fully in connection with Fig. 9, is briefly as follows: Start-ing with all circuits open, the first actuation of the operating-wheel will close one circuit, the second will close two circuits,

the third will close three circuits, and the fourth will open all circuits again, and so on. In the form illustrated in Fig. 9 there are three concentric circles of inclines, each circle having ten inclines, and the current-plate 17 upon contact-wheel D is provided withsix spring-arms 18, arranged in diametrically opposite groups of three, so that there will be two springarms, one in each group, 0011- stantly in engagement with each circle of inclines. In this form, starting with all circuits open, the first actuation of the operating-wheel will close one circuit, the second will close .two circuits, the third will close three circuits, the fourth will close four circuits, and the fifth will open all circuits again, and so on. The arrangement of the contactplates upon the inclines is as follows: Describing the inclines in radial groups of three, beginning at the top and going around toward the left, the first group comprises three insulating-inclines. In the second group the incline in the outer circle is provided with a contact-plate 21 and the inclines of the two inner circles are insulating-inclines. The third group is like the second. In the fourth group the two outer inclines are provided with contact-plates, the inner incline being an insulating-incline. In the fifth group all the inclines are provided with contact-plates. In the sixth and seventh groups all the inclines are insulating inclines, and in the eighth, ninth, and tenth groups the outer incline in each group is provided with a contact-plate, the two inner inclines being insulating-inclines.

The operation is as follows: In the position shown in Fig. 9 the opposite groups of springarms 18 are in engagement with opposite groups of insulating-inclines, so that all the circuits are open. The first actuation of the operating-wheel will place one of the outer spring-arms in engagement with a contactplate 21, thus closing one circuit, all of the other spring-arms being in engagement with insulating -inclines. The second actuation will place the outer spring-arm in each group in engagement with a contact-plate, the inner and intermediate spring-arms in each group being in engagement with insulatinginclines, so that two circuits will he closed.

The third actuation will place the outer and intermediate spring-arms in one group and the outer spring-arm in the other-group in engagement with contact-plates, the inner spring-arm in one group and the inner and intermediate spring-arms in the other group beinginengagementwithinsulating-inclines, so that three circuits will be closed. The fourth actuation will place the three springarms in one group and the outer spring-arm in the other group in engagement with contact-plates, the inner and intermediate springarms in the latter group being in engagement with insulating-inclines, so that four circuits willvbe closed. The fifth actuation, which completes a half-rotation of the contact-wheel and completes the operation of the switch, places all the spring-arms in both groups in engagement with insulating-inclines, thus opening all circuits.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. The combination with an electric switch, a frame by which it is carried, an operatingchain and a cluster-center shell inclosing the frame, of a threaded hub passing through the shell and the frame at the center of the bottom and havingahole through which the chain passes.

2. The combination with an electric switch, a frame by which it is carried, an operatingchain and a cluster-center shell inclosing the frame, of a threaded hub having a head upon which the bottom of the shell rests and between which and the frame the shell is clamped and a vertical hole through which the chain passes.

3. A cluster-switch comprising a frame, an insulating-body havinga plurality of inclines, contact-plates on part but not all of said inclines, each contact-plate forming part of an independent circuit,a rotatable contact-wheel having spring-arms adapted to engage contact-plates to close circuits and an outwardlyextending arm and stops upon the frame which are engaged by said arm to limit the oscillation of the operatingwheel.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HARVEY I-IUBBELL.

Witnesses:

A. M. WOOSTER, S. W. ATHERTON. 

